Books don't count
by sonea91
Summary: When Sirius takes on the job of 'brightening up' Hermione's 'dull' life - the very witch who brought him back to the living - will this develop into something much more than either of them had bargained for? Longer summary inside!
1. Prologue

**Summary:**

Hermione is not known as the brightest witch of her age for nothing, so, who else but her could possibly come up with a spell to bring Harry's godfather back to the living?

Some time and a minor surgery on Hermione's part later, Sirius has taken on the job of 'brightening up' Hermione's 'dull' life. That witch is clearly missing something, and Sirius is quick to figure out what it is: Love! So in order to help the woman who saved his life, he tries to bring the latter out of her shell and make her see 'all the fun' she is missing out on.

But will his attempts to set her up with some suitable guy develop into something much more than either of them had bargained for?

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On a short note, don't mistake the title. I personally love books and I did not intend to anyhow belittle their value. However, there will be a chapter later on in the story that will explain what the title deprived from.

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**Disclaimer(for the whole story): **I do not own any rights concerning Harry Potter. If I did, the seventh book wouldn't have had that sappy, cliché ending;)

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Harry was pacing in front of the veil nervously, all the time staring at his best friend.

Hermione was at least as nervous as him. She fervently hoped it was going to work, it had to work, she wouldn't be able to stand Harry's look if she didn't succeed.

Sure, he would tell her that it wasn't her fault, but she would still be able to see the disappointment lingering in his eyes and she wasn't sure whether she would be able to take that.

Well, one thing was certain, if she wasn't going to concentrate, there would be no way she'd ever succeed.

Slowly, Hermione calmed down her breath and focused. She had put so much effort into this, had used years of study to come up with a spell that just might be working. Might be - that was the problem that was getting to her, what if it didn't work after all? How could she foresee whether a spell was going to work, when it had never been tested before, when she had created that very spell herself?

Yes, she had created a few minor spells herself before, but nothing like this. This spell was in a different league, this was talking about different dimensions and the possibility of failure frightened her more than she cared to admit even to herself.

Hermione never really admitted to the fact that books only got you so far. Yet she knew that the crucial part of inventing spells was not the theoretical part, the research and all that stuff. The important part was the testing, seeing whether it would work. And that's what made it all the worse that there had been no way for her to test this spell on anything else before, since there wasn't any magical object that came even close to resembling the veil. For all she knew, her spell could very likely destroy the veil and therefore kill Sirius at the last.

For this was the only thing she was certain about, Sirius Black was not dead, but not quite alive either. She had spent many, many hours on studying whatever little information she could gather about the veil. Whilst there hadn't been much information on the subject, many theories stated that the person inside was not dead, would not be dead for 21 years until he fell through the veil. Yet no one had ever succeeded in bringing back one who had fallen through the veil. And since Sirius had been the first one in over a century to fall through it, no one really bothered to study it thoroughly. No one that is but Hermione. She had, and she believed to have found a way – or so she hoped.

Taking another calming breath, she turned her gaze to Harry: "Ready?", she asked.

Harry just nodded in reply. It had been 17 years since Sirius had fallen through the veil, 17 years in which he had believed to have lost his godfather. And now Hermione might just have found a way to bring him back to him. He knew, he shouldn't be getting his hopes up and yet he did. Hermione wasn't called the brightest witch of her age - even of the last millennium - for nothing. She truly was brilliant and if anyone was able to bring Sirius back, he knew it was her.

Hermione knew how much Harry trusted in her abilities, how all of them did, really. This was the very reason she had only brought Harry here today, had only told him and had made him swear to her that he wouldn't tell anyone else. They all trusted in her abilities so much, she didn't want to disappoint any of them.

Yet she knew that Harry would have to be there, he would be the very person Sirius would want to see once he woke up. If he woke up, that is.

But at the end of the day, she knew that if she failed, the problem wouldn't be for her to live with Harry, no, the problem would be that she would have to live with herself.

Hermione took one last calming breath. It was now or never. She focused and focused only on the veil. Her wand was pointing at the veil, and the hands that had been shaking before now remained calm in the air.

She started mumbling words, loads of words, and moving her wand in peculiar ways. It was a very difficult spell indeed.

All the doubts from before were gone, had left nothing but a vague echo in the corner of her mind. For there are two things crucial to spell-casting: One of them is the strength of will, the wish for the spell to actually come true; the second is the steadfast belief, the conviction that the spell is going to work.

She had been standing in the very same position for about half an hour, unaware of her surroundings, unaware of Harry's anxious stare, unaware of anything but the veil.

There, she was done. That very moment all her nervousness came back in a rush. Had it worked? She stared at the veil – and nothing happened.

Nothing. Absolutely nothing!

Hermione swallowed hard, she knew there had been a chance of this all being in vain, but still… At least, something could have happened, anything, really.

She continued to stare at the veil in disbelief, not quite ready to admit to her failure, when suddenly a bright silver light started to erupt from veil and spread all around. Then were was one loud burst and it all exploded.

For a moment, she couldn't help it but feel relieved, at least something had happened after all. Then the reality of the scene hit her: What had she done? She had just destroyed Sirius' last refuge - and Harry's last shred of hope.

Suddenly there in the midst of all the sherds Sirius' body appeared. He looked exactly the way he had looked when he had fallen through the veil. Did that mean they were just witnessing his death?

But no, he was – BREATHING!

"Harry, look!" Hermione cried out in joy, tears of relief washing down her face, just when Sirius slowly started to open his eyes.

"Where am I?", asked Sirius, taking in his environment curiously. His voice sounded rusty, like a person who hadn't talked in ages. "It feels like I've slept forever!"

Hermione had to chuckle slightly, hysterically. His comment hadn't been as wrong as he had thought.

Harry had meanwhile recovered from the sudden shock and ran over to his godfather's side. "Sirius", cried Harry. "It's so good to see you again!"

"Na-na, my boy", said Sirius. "It's not like we didn't see one another just a few weeks back." Sirius then looked up at Harry, startled. "Bloody hell, what happened? Did you take an aging potion or something?"

"Not exactly, no", answered Harry. "Listen, it's hard to explain, but, you fell through this veil and.."

"That's right", Sirius interrupted him. "We were battling, what happened. Are you alright? Is everyone alright?"

Neither Harry nor Hermione knew what to say at first. "Well, we won that battle, but you, you fell through this veil, and we all believed you to be dead", Harry finally revealed.

Sirius just stared at his godson, hoping that all of this would turn out to be some sick joke, but glancing into Harry's sincere-looking eyes, he knew that it wasn't.

"What happened then?", he finally croaked out.

"It's a long story", Harry said sadly. "But – we basically won the final battle and Voldemort is gone."

"Basically?", Sirius picked up his godson's careful wording.

"There were quite a few casualties along the way", Harry continued. "That was 17 years ago."

17 years? Sirius was too stunned to continue. Was his godson actually trying to tell him that he had missed out on 17 years of his life? And the casualties? 'Who?', he wanted to ask , wanted to scream out, but was too afraid of the answers.

Then he picked up on something else. "You all thought I was dead." It was more of a question than a statement.

"Well, most of us did. Hermione here didn't", Harry said, pointing to the witch in the corner. Sirius briefly looked up to meet her gaze, not having noticed her before.

If there had still been some doubts left, whether this wasn't anything but a sick joke, they were gone once he had looked at Hermione. She, too, had aged and looked at him with worried, yet sincere eyes.

"You see, she found a way to somehow revive you, don't ask me for the details, I have absolutely no idea, but I'm sure she'll explain it to you later, that is, if you want her to, I mean, .."

"Harry", Hermione interjected softly, effectively ending the wizard's rambling.

"Right", Harry mumbled, trying his best to collect himself. Sirius, meanwhile, was still to shocked to say anything.

"I know that this is probably a lot to take in, and it'll take a lot of time to explain it all to you. But the main thing is that you're alive and healthy, and back with us", Hermione - always the voice of reason - addressed Sirius, when neither of the two men in the room had anything more to say.

"You're right", Harry agreed. "I'm so glad to have you back, Sirius!"

"And I'm glad to be back, I suppose", Sirius finally said. "And it's good to see that you're still up and about." With that, he embraced Harry in a tight hug. Both of the men were sporting some treacherous tears, and Hermione discreetly turned away, to give them some privacy.

"The casualties?", Sirius finally uttered the dreaded question.

"I – We better explain that to you back at my place" Harry said meekly, got up and stretched out his hand to help Sirius up..

Sirius nodded grimly but ignored the help Harry was offering him and got up on his own.

"Alright, where shall we go then?", he asked.

"Potter Manor."


	2. Utterly useless

A year had passed since Sirius had come back through the veil. A year in which he had experienced both great sadness and happiness. Saddened by the news of the deaths of so many people close to him, happy to find that his godson was still alive and had been the one to end the reign of Voldemort.

Things had been overwhelming at first, having to deal with 17 years that he had simply 'missed out on'. It was so bizarre to see how everyone had moved on with their lives, and yet, here he was, and for him all the losses were still so present.

Eventually, he had somewhat come to terms with it all, as much as anyone is able to cope with the loss of people so dear to one that is.

But on evenings like this he still felt very lonely. He missed his old friends: Padfoot, his favourite partner-in-crime, surrogate brother and confidant; Moony, the reason of voice, yet mischief-maker par excellence and trusted friend.

And on some days, even though they were few and he always felt guilty afterwards, he even wished Wormfoot back.

In short, he missed his Maurader days. Back then, he had never known what loneliness was. Even though he had been estranged from his own family, there had always been someone there for him.

But his friends were there no longer, and he had to deal with the fact that he was the only Maurader left. He knew that sitting in his giant newly-bought house, drinking Firewhiskey straight from the bottle wasn't the best way to go about it, but truth be told, right then he couldn't care less.

Deep down he knew that his life wasn't bad, that he was actually quite lucky to even be alive, and that he should be grateful for that. The problem was that knowing and feeling didn't exactly correlate for him.

And then his relationship with Harry: It was weird that his godson was now a mere three and a half years younger than him. Since Sirius had spent half of his life (and nearly all his adult life) either in Azkaban or on the run, so truthfully, Harry had more 'experience of life' than Sirius, which destroyed the elder's role as advisor.

For a while, Sirius had also indulged himself in the idea that Harry might become his new best friend, replacing his father, James. But the Maurader had soon learnt that that was a futile idea and had dismissed the idea, for various reasons.

Firstly, even though Harry resembled his father in both spirit and looks, they were still two completely different persons.

Secondly, harry already had his own best friends, Hermione and Ron, whom had stood by him all his life, and Sirius knew that he could never replace them.

And thirdly, and probably most important of them all, he still felt responsible for Harry, felt like the older one who had to look after his godson, even though the age gap had been so drastically diminished. There was just no way he could ever be best friends with someone who regarded him as a father figure.

But no, life was treating him fairly well after all, at last. His name had been cleared, hence he was now free to do whatever he wanted to do. There was just one little problem, he didn't really know what to do with his life. Having spent the better part of his life imprisoned or on the run, he had never completed any kind of schooling for a certain job.

Then he had been young, both he and James had dreamed of becoming aurors. He had still considered this option for a while, but ultimately dismissed it. There were but a few deatheaters still out there, most of them having been captured by Harry and the lot while he had been "sleeping". They had all been sent off to Azkaban, and some of them had even received the death kiss from the dementors. After Voldemort's defeat, the dementors had been won back over, yet no one trusted them completely. He knew the ministry had wanted to discharge them, but just didn't know how to go about it. After all, what would happen if they just let lose those creatures? No one had been able to find a satisfactory solution to that problem yet, and he very much doubted that they would find one soon.

His thoughts were wandering off, as they often did these days. He really needed to get himself sorted out, get something to do. If things continued to be the way they were, he would never stop feeling utterly useless.

Hermione was sitting at her desk in her apartment, working. She threw a glance at the watch, only to curse the time. It was well past midnight, and she wasn't even close to getting finished. She knew that most of her friends were probably out, partying somewhere, but she just didn't have the nerve for it. Neither did she have the time, for that matter. One should think that being in their early thirties, most of them happily married with a family of their own, would have put an end to their regular tours through the nearest pubs. Needless to say, it hadn't, it seemed that they still believed to have to make up for the youth that had been ruined for them by the presence of Voldemort and his deatheaters. She was inwardly rolling her eyes, wondering whether they would ever grow out of it. She knew that Mrs. Weasley loved to play the babysitter, but still, shouldn't they be prone to show some more responsibility?

In all honesty, Hermione had never been one to go out partying and drinking much. She had been the first to stop celebrating after the defeat of the Dark Lord, eager to get back to 'doing something sensible'.

Currently she was working on a speech on house-elves, which she was to give in two days' time. She was quite nervous about it: She knew she was as best prepared as anyhow possible, yet she feared that she might fail once again. Slavery had been long forbidden for humans, why couldn't the same be applied to house-elves? For slavery it was the way that house-elves were kept all across Britain and the whole wizarding world.

She groaned inwardly, yet again crossing out a whole paragraph. No, this just didn't sound right. 'The house-elves have been far too little appreciated in the past' – no, not right either.

Oh screw it. Sometimes Hermione felt like she hadn't achieved anything at all in the 15 years she had now been working for the rights of suppressed creatures. She knew she had achieved some changes, but little were they appreciated. As so often in her life. Like it had been when she had saved Sirius. Surely, everyone had been overjoyed that he was back, yet they had all failed to praise her or express their gratitude. Not that she had expected that, all that she had hoped for was a small 'thank you', but they had failed to give her even that. Not even Sirius, not even Harry, absolutely no one.

'Oh come on Hermione', she mentally scolded herself. 'Listen to yourself, do you know how pathetic you sound.'

Yet she couldn't help it. Through all those years she had been missing someone who would have supported her. Not that Harry and Ron weren't supportive, they were, yet she felt – unappreciated. It was like she was taken for granted. She was the smartest witch of her age after all, and everyone expected her to do brilliant at anything she ever tried. Yes, she liked that reputation, yet she wouldn't have minded someone telling her that she was indeed brilliant, that she did indeed make a change, every once in a while. She had never been the most confident of persons – not that she ever allowed herself to display any sort of weakness – it would have just been really good for her psyche to have people acknowledge her and her efforts and not to take them for granted. Being taken for granted was a horrible feeling, and it made Hermione feel vulnerable.

She swallowed hard. Now was not the time to dwell on matters like that, she had a speech to prepare. But considering what little effect her past efforts of 15 years had had, she couldn't help it but feel – utterly useless.


	3. A passionate speech

Hermione was nervous. She was due to give her speech in 10 minutes. 'Just breathe', she thought to herself. She had prepared for this. She was ready to do this. She could do this.

"Miss Granger", a small man in a suit that seemed far too big on him addressed her. When she nodded at him in reply, he added. "They are ready for you now."

Hermione took one final breath before she went in. This was it. This was what she had been working so hard for. She took one glance at her audience: All high-ranking ministry officials who had the power to change the laws concerning house-elves. She just had to convince them first. And hell, she would do that.

"_Ladies and gentlemen,_

_I am grateful that you are here today. The matter I want to discuss with you is one that has unfortunately been severely neglected in the past. _

_A long time ago, racism was banned and slavery abolished, not only in the muggle world, but in the _

_wizarding world also. Great relief did this bring to those it concerned, and the world has become somewhat fairer ever since then. Equal rights and equal opportunity were once the catchphrases in the campaigns that led to these changes, and today the people can proudly say that much of what has been demanded has indeed been fulfilled._

_Today every child could tell you that a person that works for another will get paid and that he or she can quit the job if they – for whatever reason – decide to do so. No longer is anyone restricted to a certain field of activity, but is free to do whatever he or she wishes to do, of course somewhat bound by the rules of the ever-changing global economy. _

_So why do I ask you today, have the same rules never been applied to house-elves? We wizards often pretend that we would be superior to the muggles around us, laugh at their efforts to improve their world and yet in so many ways the muggles are so far ahead of us. _

'_Tolerance' and 'acceptance' are big words among both muggles and wizards, but I had had to painfully experience that they have different connotations in the two worlds. Why they are greatly applied to all areas among muggles, the wizarding world seems to restrict these to humans alone, and in many cases, only to the pureblood wizards among those. What they don't take into consideration is that there are so many other creatures out there, creatures who hold the same amount of intelligence as we do or at least come close to it. And yes, I say creatures 'who', for I won't be using derogatory terms as so many others do and want to express that I think they should be treated as equals, not as underlings. Why should they not receive the same treatment as we do after all? Is it because we don't completely understand them and are by nature afraid of the unknown? Is it simply because we make up the majority and therefore have the power to suppress them, a power we simply want to execute?_

_Ralph Sockman once said, that the test of courage comes when we are in the minority. But the test of tolerance comes when we are in the majority. And it is our tolerance that is being tested right now. The question we have to ask ourselves is whether we can accept that there are other intelligent beings out there who should have equal rights._

_Many have asked me why I am so committed to this particular subject. Maybe experiencing racism of a kind myself has aroused this. 'Mudblood' I was called by many purebloods at school, who believed me not to be worth attending a wizarding schol. Superior they believed to be, and yet I outsmarted them all. This might have been the trigger for my interest, yet it is not my only and not my foremost reason and I do not intend to dwell on this matter, since it is not subject of this speech._

_No, the reason I am so committed to this cause is that I am simply ashamed. Ashamed of the way we tend to treat house-elves and other creatures whom we believe to be superior to. Ashamed to be part of this community who constantly seems to feel the urge to suppress those outside of it. But I say that house-elves, and for that matter also werewolves, qwindolins and all of them should not be longer be excluded from this exclusive club of pureblood wizards that the wizarding world has lately become. They should be included, taken to the core. The same rights should apply to them, to all of them._

_But I won't bore you with any more abstract concepts and generalizations any more, and instead focus on the matter at hand, which is the rights and the place of house-elves WITHIN our community. _

_House-elves have been around for as long as wizards have and for as far as our history books can tell us. They have magic of their own, that outmatches that of many less able witches and wizards. _

_I am not saying 'free all the house-elves', I am saying give them the choice to decide on their own. Make it possible for them to choose the family they want to serve. Allow them to wear regular clothes. Give them an allowance or pay them for their job if they want to. I am not saying pay them for their work no matter what, for I know for a fact that many of them wouldn't want them. Yet there are so many among them who are unhappy about the families they have to serve, and who would love to serve another family instead. But bound by stupid ties they cannot leave, cannot choose on their own._

_I have done much research in the past few years and I have found out that these boundaries have not always existed. Back in the time of Ruwenda Ravenclaw and the other founders of Hogwarts, house-elves were still free, free to choose their family on their own. They didn't get paid back then either, yet they were happy to serve their respective family, as they were allowed to choose themselves. They were bound to that family for one generation only, and after that they were once again free to choose whether they wanted to stay with the family or look for another family instead. Meanwhile, if ever one of them was being abused in any kind or form, they were free to leave and all boundaries had disappeared immediately. _

_Paragraph 117 of our constitution goes as follows 'All house-elves are bound to serve their respective family and have to obey to the current head of the family at all times. They are not allowed to perform any magic which has not been previously approved by their master. The only way a house-elf can ever be freed is by receiving some part of clothing from their master. If this should be the case, the respective house-elf is to report to the Office of House-Elf Relocation immediately in order to find a new family.'_

_As I have made clear, I do not agree with this at all, and I demand for this paragraph to be changed and for the following law to be passed._

'_House-elves are to be treated as equal beings, therefore having the same rights and privileges, but also the same duties as humans.'_

_Very short and simply, since they are to be treated as equals, the same laws apply to them and we don't have to specify any particular detail, considering that our constitution does cover all areas of employment and life necessary._

_I know this law might not be the most popular once passed, and it might cause uproar among some parts of our community in the beginning. At the same time I am sure that the people will recognize this as an act of tolerance and acceptance and will take it as a sign that the ministry has indeed recovered from its dark past. After all, consider this: If there were more house-elves than wizards and witches, we would be the minority, and maybe then, the roles were completely reversed. If you were to serve house-elves every day of our life, wouldn't you then also like to get the chance at choosing yourself what you deem to be best? Don't you think they deserve the same opportunity?_

_Thank you for your attention, ladies and gentlemen, and I hope you will consider what I said, and come to a wise decision."_

Hermione's voice had not once waivered, her every word full of the passion she felt for the topic. However, once she was finished, she felt completely nervous once again, but did not let it show on her features. She knew that she couldn't allow herself to display any kind of weakness in front of this group or else she'd fail.

She casted a curious glance at the ministry officials, trying to read their expressions. Some of them looked affirmative, some looked outright offended, others she could not read at all. Regardless of the outcome, it would be a close call.

A men sitting in the first row, whom she recognized as Mr. Patson, addressed her: "Thank you for your time, Miss Granger. We will consider this suggestion thoroughly and will notify you once we've come to a decision. Expect an owl in three days time."

Hermione nodded at the men and bid goodbye. After that, she left the room and finally gave in to her nervousness. She just couldn't wait to receive that owl.


	4. Dinner at the Burrow

Hermione arrived at the Burrow just in time. Molly was eagerly ushering her in, telling her to drop off her stuff before getting back outside.

It had been an extremely hot August day but at the evening, the temperature had luckily cooled down. Everyone but her and George was on summer holidays at the moment, therefore the whole Weasley clan, how Hermione liked to call them, was gathered outside.

She was obviously the last one; everyone else was already seated around the large wooden table in the backyard. Arthur was sitting at one end, the empty seat next to him obviously Molly's. Next came Bill and Fleur, then Charlie and his wife Christine, George and Angelina. At the other end of the table there were Harry and Ginny, then Ron and Lavender and one still vacated seat at the very end of the table.

'Great', Hermione thought bitterly. 'All couples and her!' She even considered sitting with the children at a smaller table nearby for a second, but dismissed that idea immediately and sat down with a small inaudible groan instead.

Only two minutes later and she was bored out of her mind: Ron had started engaging Harry and Ginny in a conversation about the current quidditch season, and soon George and Angelina had joined in. The only person who looked as bored as her was Lavender, but Hermione didn't really feel up to talking to her, she could only take Lavender's nonsense every so often.

She'd never been as relieved when Molly walked out, levitating in front of her large bowls full with mashed potatoes, some kind of meat, gravy, coleslaw and what not. Everyone digged in immediately and the chatter died down for a few minutes.

Suddenly, a deep voice broke the silence. "Sorry I'm late", said Sirius.

"Ah, not at all, not at all. Grab a seat and sit down", replied Molly, obviously delighted that there was yet another mouth to be fed.

"But Mum", interrupted Ron. "There's hardly enough room for all of us, let alone for another person."

"Seriously Ron", Hermione rolled her eyes. "Are you not a wizard after all?" Ron was not even insulted by Hermione's remark, as he most likely would have been if they'd still been at Hogwarts, he'd just grown to used to it and knew that Hermione didn't mean to insult him.

Hermione got up and moved her chair aside. "Enlargo!" With a swift movement of her wand she had lengthened the table at the end she had been sitting at. "There you go", she said contently, sitting back down.

"Well, thank you my dear", Sirius smiled at her and conjured up a chair of his own, sitting down opposite of Hermione.

"Why are you here anyway", interrupted Charlie with a somewhat smug expression. After all, he was now four years older than Sirius. "I thought you were supposed to be on a date, weren't you."

"And so I was", Sirius said in between scooping a huge amount of food into his mouth.

"Aaaand?", Ginny asked on.

"And – nothing. Didn't work out that well", Sirius concluded.

"Anyway, I'm not the only one at this table without a date, and I don't see you all peppering Hermione with questions", Sirius added as an afterthought.

"Why thank you Sirius", Hermione replied. "Very subtle of you, wasn't it?"

"Oh come on, and anyway, why aren't you on a date. You're not getting younger, you should see what you can still get and hold on to it", said Sirius.

"32 years is not that old", Hermione answered, clearly getting annoyed.

"Isn't your birthday next month?"

"I'm surprised you'd remember that", Hermione said, slightly taken aback.

"Ah, I remember more than you might think possible. But see, that means you're nearly 33 and another year has passed without you having fun with some guy! Why didn't you just bring one tonight, it could have been fun", replied Sirius.

"Maybe there wasn't just anyone who I found quite interesting enough", said Hermione, clearly somewhat embarrassed that he wouldn't just drop the subject.

"Oh come on, there's always someone interesting. I mean, when I was in my fifth year I dated this girl. She was not quite my league, yet I believed her to be somewhat interesting and she was. Liked to experiment a lot, fiery temper and all. She was a gingerhead after all, so what do you expect?"

"Any you believe that to be something wise to say at a table full of redheads, because…?", Ginny interrupted him.

"Anyway", Sirius went on, completely ignoring Ginny's comment. "Turned out she wasn't that much of a good kisser, so I broke it off."

"Yeah, quite likely ending" Ginny snorted, while the rest of the table was laughing about Sirius's story. "Sure it was you who broke it off and not her."

"Ah, can't remember it that clearly", said Sirius with a smirk. "But it must have been me. Anyway, you need to be getting out more is what I intended on telling you that way", he added, once again addressing Hermione.

Hermione however seemed eager to change the subject and turned to look at George. "How's the shop going?", she asked him.

"Not so good, actually", replied George, small worry lines now visible on his forehead. "I mean, I just don't have the time to invent new products. And even if I had the time, I'm just missing another pair of brains that'd help me along."

"Why don't you employ me", asked Sirius. "I've been much of a prankster in school myself, I'm sure I could help you."

"Thank you", said George. "But I really don't think you'd fit the job description. After all, I'm head of a jokeshop and I can't have anyone with such mood swings as yours there. What would I do with a miserable person in a place where we're supposed to sell 'fun' as a lifestyle product?"

"Ah, and that's where you're wrong. I'm not miserable, I'm simply bored since I have nothing to do. It's just not fulfilling at all to be sitting around all day, having nothing to do", said Sirus.

Hermione nearly choked on the pumpkin juice she was currently drinking. Sirius looked at her, slightly irritated.

"I'm sorry, but that coming from the man who told me that one doesn't need work to be happy just half a year ago", explained Hermione.

"Looks like I've changed my mind", Sirius admitted rather grudgingly.

"Ha, so I was right after all", Hermione said triumphantly and for once Sirius did not know how to counter that.

"Anyway, I suggest we make a deal. I'll be working for you for a week, without any payment needless to say. And after that you can decide whether I'm fit for the job or not", Sirius offered.

"Agreed", George said immediately, and the two men shook hands across the table, nearly throwing over a few glasses in the process.

"Oh, Hermione, I totally forgot", Harry suddenly addressed Hermione. "How did your meeting go?"

"Oh, thank you. Alright, I suppose. They're going to let me know how they decided in three days", said Hermione.

"Oh, I'm sure you absolutely convinced them", Harry added.

"What meeting?", asked Ron.

"Seriously Ron", his sister addressed him. "Hermione hasn't talked about anything but for weeks. That just goes to show how attentive you listen to us."

"The discussion about the change of the laws on house-elves", clarified Hermione.

"Oh, you mean your big speech. That was today?", asked Ron.

Hermione just nodded, not really surprised that he'd forgotten, and not really hurt either. He tended to forgot his anniversary with his wife and her birthday, so it wasn't completely surprising that he'd forgotten about something rather small like that.

Sirius snorted, which caused Hermione to look at him irritated.

"Seriously? You're not still fighting for the rights of these creatures, are you?", he asked.

"Yes, I am. And it's because of people like you that they are treated this way", Hermione shot back, clearly angered by his statement and refused to talk to him for a good while after.

It was only during dessert that Sirius apologized to her. Hermione raised an eyebrow at him questioningly, not trusting the seemingly sincerity behind his words.

"You didn't really change your mind on the subject, did you?", she inquired.

"Nah, not really", said Sirius. "But since I figured that you're the only single woman at this table, except for Rose" – with a sideways glance Hermione noticed that Rose had gone over to talk to her mother Lavender – "but she's really not my type."

Though she tried to look angry, Hermione failed miserably and started laughing instead and was in stitches for quite a while. Sirius just smiled, happy that he had won another small victory, at least in his eyes.

Hermione couldn't help but notice how handsome Sirius looked tonight. Not being on the run anymore had certainly done well to his exterior.

"Hey, are you staring at me", Sirius interrupted her thoughts.

"I'm not", she denied.

"I think you were", he said, hoping to make her blush but was disappointed when she failed to do so. Meanwhile, Hermione was holding on to her wand tightly. It was moments like this that she was especially grateful that she had her wand at reach at all times, and the anti-blushing spell had saved her from embarrassing situations more than once.

Suddenly Hermione held on tightly to her right side, as it had started to hurt once again. Sirius had noticed this and looked at her worriedly.

"Everything alright", he asked.

"I'm fine", Hermione said, forcing herself to smile and to drop the hand from her side. It was nothing after all, she had felt that pain before, just the day before, and it had gone away then and it would go away again.

Sirius didn't look completely convinced, but joined in the conversation anyway, as did Hermione. After dinner was finished, everyone just stayed on and happy chatter filled the air for quite a while.

Every once in a while Sirius would cast a glance at Hermione worriedly, and more than once he got her holding on to her side, but did not say anything.

Finally everyone made to leave, as it was getting really late. Hermione was relieved to get home, since the pain had not once stopped and seemed to indeed be getting worse. She would just be taking some pain potions once in her apartment and then go to bed immediately. It was probably just the stress, she tried to tell herself.

While the families went inside to leave via the floo network, Hermione bid goodbye outside, as did Sirius, and with two load pops they were gone, each to their respective home.

* * *

A/N: Just imagine that there's been much more talking going on, especially at the other end of the table and that I just presented the bits and pieces that I deemed to be important.

Anyway, hope you liked it and I'll be really happy if you leave a review and tell me what you think=)


	5. An operation

The following evening Sirius received an owl from Harry when he was out on a date. The letter simply read: 'An emergency has come up. Please come here as fast as possible. Your godson' Sirius cursed his luck, the witch opposite of him was rather pretty, but with a fiery temper. He didn't know how she'd take being dumped in the middle of a date, but Harry went first.

And he was right, one hit to the face later he was rushing out of the restaurant, eager to avoid any hexes she might send after him. Out of the restaurant, he quickly apparated to the grounds of Potter manor. He rushed into the house, not bothering to knock, anxious as to what had happened.

There he found Ginny waiting for him, and he could hear Hermione and Harry arguing in the next room, even though Hermione's voice sounded somewhat trembled, something totally unusual for the witty witch, usually she always won her arguments.

"What's going on?", Sirius asked Ginny breathless.

"Well, it's Hermione. She's been having this pain and she nearly passed out today. She was over to drop something off for Harry and then she nearly blackened out. We told her she needs to see a doctor, but she's refusing to go."

"And, what exactly did you need me for then? You know, my date wasn't very pleased that I just got up and left, to say the least." Sirius looked at the younger witch indignantly.

"Well, Harry and I haven't had a day to ourselves in ages. This was supposed to be our night out", pleaded Ginny. "And we need someone to actually ensure that Hermione is going to the hospital and stays there until they figure out what's wrong with her."

"Oh, but it doesn't matter that good old Sirius might have had a date of his own, does it." That was a rhetorical question after all, but Sirius was clearly annoyed.

"You owe her something after all", said Ginny, a mischievous glint in her eyes. "She was the one to save you, so you do owe her big time. I don't think you ever properly thanked her for that, did you?"

"Well, I don't recall any of you telling her how brilliant she did either?", Sirius countered.

Ginny looked taken aback for a second, clearly not having expected him to answer to that. "Well, maybe none of us thanked her properly enough, but it wasn't my life she saved that day."

Sirius looked rather sulky, he didn't like people playing the 'guilt' card. He knew he owed Hermione big time, he just didn't want to admit it.

However, since his date had been ruined anyway, surely there would be no harm in taking Hermione to the hospital. After all, that shouldn't take too long, should it?

He went into the next room still in a bad mood, nearly slamming the door, only to find Hermione sitting on the couch, clearly in pain while Harry was standing in front of her, urging her to be sensible and go see a doctor. Hermione however was reluctant to do so, saying that she just needed a moment, and that the pain would most likely go away in just a few minutes. Yeah, bloody likely. Sirius remembered how Hermione had already been holding on to her side the evening before. Stupid, stubborn witch.

When Sirius made this rather loud entry, both Harry and Hermione looked up. Harry looked relieved that he'd come, while Hermione looked outright offended that Harry and Ginny had felt the need to inform him.

She was about to say something, but Sirius quite rudely interrupted her. "Get up, we're going."

It was quite obvious that Sirius was still in a bad mood, and for once Hermione didn't dare to retort. Good, that made things easier. Sirius was just eager to get this over and done with.

Harry mouthed a 'thanks' at Sirius, before he and Hermione left via floo powder to St. Mungo's.

There he was sitting in the waiting area while Hermione was taken into a room for examination. A nurse emerged from said room shortly afterwards, looking for him.

"You're Miss Granger's boyfriend?", she addressed him.

"No!", exclaimed Sirius, somewhat shocked at the idea. "She's my godson's best friend", he called out.

"Alright, be that as it may", the nurse looked slightly irritated, clearly confused as to how his godson's daughter could be the same age as him. Sirius rolled his eyes inwardly, how could anyone not have heard of Hermione or him? He was about to question her when she interrupted his stream of thought. "Miss Granger suffers from appendicitis. Usually that wouldn't be too great of a problem. However, she seems to have ignored all the symptoms thus far and we're no longer able to stop the infection simply by healing methods. That means, she will actually have to undergo surgery. Since we muggles actually have far more advanced methods in that area and Miss Granger has already given us her consent, we'll do that the muggle way." Ah, she was a muggle, that explained it.

"Any further questions?", the nurse inquired.

"Well, how long is the whole thing going to take?", Sirius asked.

"Well, it's actually just a minor surgery, at least usually. However, considering that things are a lot further progressed than usually with Miss Granger, she'll have to stay here at least for a day for observation. It also seems she has seriously overworked herself, she looks very drained, not the best preconditions really. The operation itself won't take too long, as long as there aren't any complications. Right now, Miss Granger is being anesthetized. She might be slightly disorientated when she wakes up after the operation, so it'd be good if she'd have a – friend there."

"Alright, I'll wait", said Sirius, sighing. He didn't really feel like spending his evening in a hospital. Suddenly a voice behind them interrupted their conversation. "Sirius Black? Oh my god, this is Sirius Black, I can't believe it."

Oh crap, he really didn't need this, but what had he expected? Walking into a place full of wizards and witches and not being recognized? Not bloody likely.

The nurse's eyes widened when she finally recognized just who exactly was standing in front of her and who the patient inside was. Of course she'd heard all about them.

"Would you like to wait for Miss Granger in her room", she asked Sirius quietly. The latter nodded gratefully, desperate to get away from the squealing teenage girl that had addressed him.

The nurse hadn't promised too much, Hermione's operation didn't last for much longer than half an hour. Sirius was awakened from his light slumber when they wheeled the bed with the still sleeping Hermione into the room. She looked a bit pale, he noticed and wondered whether that was due to the operation or to the stress the witch put herself under. For once he was grateful for both of their celebrity status, since Hermione had therefore been granted a room of her own.

He followed the operating doctor outside, who had arrived a minute later and who had motioned for him to come outside.

"The operation went alright, no complications. The anesthetics should wear off very soon, however, it is quite likely that she won't even wake up, her imposed sleep simply turning into a natural one. Even though her situation is most stable and there shouldn't be any future problems, we won't release her for at least another day. Miss Granger has put herself under too much stress, so it seems, and that definitely didn't do much good to her health. For her to fully recover, she needs to relax and she shouldn't go back to work for at least another week."

Sirius nodded and said his thanks to the doctor before he went back inside and moved the chair he'd been sitting in before next to the bed. Just how exactly was he going to tell the stubborn witch that she wasn't allowed to work for at least a week.

Just then a thought crossed his mind. He knew she would be mad at him, but there would be nothing she'd be able to do about it afterwards. She probably wouldn't wake up until the next morning, so he had enough time on his hands.


	6. You did WHAT?

When Hermione woke up the next day, it took her a couple of seconds to realize where she was. She was still a bit groggy when she took in her surroundings, she was in the hospital. That's right, she had had the appendix operation and as she carefully took a huge breath she noticed that the pain in her side was gone. Thank God!

Only then did she notice the tall figure sleeping in a chair that looked rather uncomfortable by the side of her bed. So he actually stayed. Wow!

She couldn't help but smile at his sleeping form. He looked so very adorable like that. Of course, she'd never ever tell him that, god knows he was already big-headed enough.

At this very moment, Sirius started to stir and a few seconds later his eyes flickered open.

"Morning" Hermione smiled at him.

"Morning", he replied very sleepily. He was definitely not a morning person. Adjusting his eyes to the light, he got up to stretch his tense muscles.

"You know, you really didn't have to stay overnight", said Hermione.

"If that's your way of saying 'thank you', then 'no problem'".

"Well, thank you", said Hermione. "Oh, damn it", she added.

"What's wrong?", asked Sirius, the worry evident in his voice even though his voice was still very husky.

"I totally forgot to call into work and tell them that I'd have to take a day off!"

Sirius laughed. "So that's all you worry about? I should have known, shouldn't I? Anyway, you needn't worry about it, I took care of that."

"You did?" Hermione sounded rather astonished. "Well, how, why?"

"I'll tell you later. Right now, I need a cup of coffee. Want some, too?"

"I'd actually love some, thanks. But wait, just tell me first, how…" But Hermione's words were useless. Sirius had already left through the door. Slightly frustrated she decided to lie back down. She had never believed him to be capable of being this thoughtful, actually calling into work for her to tell them where she was.

About 10 minutes later Sirius returned, sipping from a huge cup in his one hand and handing another cup to Hermione.

"Thanks", she said, before she took a large sip. Coffee – just what she had needed right now.

After both of them had been sipping on their coffee rather contently, Hermione asked: "So what did Mr. Burton say?"

"Who?", asked Sirius.

"My boss", exclaimed Hermione. "Surely he was the one you were talking to?"

"Oh, yeah, now that you mention it. I think it was him. Said it was alright. After all, if anyone deserved some holiday it was you, he said. So no worries", explained Sirius.

"Holiday?", asked Hermione. "But surely you explained him what kind of situation I'm in? I mean, it's not like I took the day off, I just had an operation, I couldn't go in."

"I might have forgotten about mentioning that", said Sirius, not even trying to look guilty.

"You're joking, right?", Hermione cried out, before noticing that he was indeed serious. "How can you be so calm about this? And why the hell would you tell him that I'm taking a holiday?"

"Because you are", replied Sirius matter-of-factly. "Three weeks to be precise." He ignored her gasp and just continued. "He mentioned that you had some holiday left over, and I just said you'd take all of it now. Seems like you haven't taken any holiday in ages!"

"You did WHAT?" Hermione reacted somewhat belatedly.

"I took some time off in your name", replied Sirius calmly.

"And what would give you the right to do so?", shouted Hermione. "How could he even believe you?"

"With 'he' I think you're referring to your Mr. Button, or whatever he's called. Well, it might have something to do with the fact that I told him that we just got engaged and you wanted to take some time off to celebrate", said Sirius innocently.

"I don't believe you", cried Hermione. "How could you? What are they going to think of me when I go back to work? Well, I could always pretend I didn't know anything about it, could pretend you're some lunatic or something."

"Very likely, my dear. I told them that I'm Sirius Black, so they know that we're friends. You know, it'd be easier if you just stayed home."

"Well, I could always tell them that you were just pulling some kind of childish prank", said Hermione, not ready to give in just yet. And she was still really mad at him, her eyes were glistening furiously at him.

"Ah, but they might question you as to why I would feel inclined to pull such a genius prank on you. Clearly because I'm irrevocably and madly in love with you. So maybe you could assure them that it was one-way only, but that still wouldn't spare you from any teasing." Sirius was clearly convinced of the perfectness of his plan.

Hermione was lost for words, and, not knowing how to reply, she resorted to the only possible reply: "GET OUT! NOW!"

"As you wish, love", said Sirius, smirking. "I have to meet George in two hours anyway. Have a nice holiday."

With that he left, leaving behind a clearly confused and mad Hermione. Great. What was she to do now?


	7. Calm down, Hermione

A/N: I know there were mixed feelings about the last chapter, more specifically Sirius' behavior. Personally, I agree that what he did was "more unfeeling and mean than funny", as one reviewer put it. Even when you find out that maybe Sirius' 'joke' wasn't as bad as it seemed, I still wanted to show that there's a side to him that I don't agree with. We all know that both he and James, and partly also Remus were bullies in school, and even though they probably "grew out" of it, I don't think his maurader side would have completely disappeared.

But enough stalling for now, on with the story and sorry for the impossibly long wait!

* * *

Hermione was still furious at Sirius, and anger always clouded her mind, so she didn't really know what to do next. She just knew that she needed to get out of that hospital right then, she detested lying around feeling useless and weak.

Hermione ignored the doctor's recommendation that she stay in hospital at least until the evening, and left "at her own risk".

She apparated straight to her apartment and after changing into some concealing clothes (she really didn't feel like being recognized) she went for a walk in the nearby park. That managed to calm her down a bit, just as she hoped.

When she got to her apartment, she decided to call into work, to find out what damage Sirius had really done. (Surprisingly enough, she and some fellow muggle-born workers had managed to persuade the heads of the ministry of the usefulness of phones just two years ago.)

Swallowing hard, she picked up her own phone. Best get it over and done with!

Mr. Burton picked up nearly at once. He obviously had gotten used to the caller identity display: "Hello Ms Granger, you really didn't need to call in! I hope you're doing alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine, thanks", replied Hermione, somewhat surprised. So he did know that she was sick after all. What exactly had Sirius told him?

"Good, good. My wife had her appendix taken out just a year ago, I remember that they said that the most important thing was just to take things easy afterwards."

"About the holiday…"

"Yeah, your friend who called earlier told me that you wanted to take the two weeks following the one you're on sick leave."

Hermione was startled for a second. That was not what Sirius had told her earlier on. "Yeah, right. I just wanted to check whether that's alright with you?"

"Of course it is. I don't know anyone who deserves a holiday as much as you do", Mr. Burton reaffirmed her. "I guess we'll see you in three weeks then, Miss Granger."

"Yes. Good-bye", Hermione answered, still confused.

"Good-bye." With that, her boss hung up.

If anything, that conversation had just made her even madder at Sirius. What the heck was he playing at? Couldn't he just have told her what he had actually told her boss? She had nearly made a fool of herself there…

And her boss! He hadn't even given her a chance to object. She didn't want this bloody holiday! Frankly, she didn't need it!

Cleaning up had always been one of Hermione's techniques to blow some steam off, so she started doing just that. But since she kept her place neatly most of the time anyway, there wasn't really that much cleaning up for her to do.

When she threw something into the bin, she saw a piece of the first draft of her speech. How could she have forgotten all about that? And why hadn't she received any notification yet as to what their decision was?

Great! Now she was both mad at Sirius and nervous. And soon a third emotion joined those: boredom. Hermione hardly ever had any time to herself, usually she had loads of things to work on. What the hell was she supposed to do now?

She picked up "Hogwarts – A history" soon afterwards, but not even her favourite book could keep her occupied and she was still fidgeting. Running around in her rather small apartment didn't help things either.

A look at the clock revealed that it was six in the evening. That meant Sirius was most definitely back from the shop.

Grabbing her cloak, Hermione stepped out of her apartment and apparated over to Sirius's. She needed some way to blow off some steam and Sirius seemed to be the perfect candidate. And anyway, he deserved it!

She more or less stormed into his place, the wards allowing her to get in. There were noises coming from the kitchen, so he was obviously preparing dinner. Not bothering to slow down and causing as much noise as possible (slamming the door was probably a good start), she was greeted by Sirius' surprised face.

But what he said next definitely didn't help the situation. "Calm down, Hermione" was just nothing you told Hermione when she was truly mad. He seemed to realize that just a second later, for a look of worry briefly crossed his features. But just a second later he had his emotions back under control. He just looked his typical, oh-this-is-going-to-be-fun, self-confident, smug way, which infuriated Hermione even more. Oh, this wasn't going to go down easily and frankly, Hermione was looking forward to a nice confrontation, at least that was sure to distract her from other things. Like the fact that still no owl from the Wizengamot had arrived.


	8. A shouting match

A/N: Thank you so much to everyone who has added this story to their alert and/or favourite list, and an even bigger 'thanks' to everyone who has left a review!

I'm so sorry that updates have been so irregular, but I have to admit that I wasn't exactly into the story anymore and didn't even remember everything I had written in earlier chapters. That's the reason why I spent the last week going back through all the chapters, slightly editing some of them (the content is still the same, just the wording might be different). I hope updates will be a bit faster from now on, though I can't promise anything.

* * *

There was a reason why there were silencing charms placed on Grimmauld Place Number 13: Its occupants had always been gifted with a rather loud set of lungs, and more than one shouting match had taken place in its halls. Back in Sirius' childhood, it had been usually him against his mother, him against his father, him against his aunt; well him against anyone else from his family, really.

The charms once more proved to be quite useful, as a brown-haired witch was currently standing in his kitchen, furiously shouting at the man opposite of her, who was shouting back in equal volume.

"What were you thinking?", cried Hermione. "Were you so intent on making a fool out of me?"

"Would you f****** relax?", Sirius shouted back. "It was a f****** joke, for Christ's sake. But maybe Miss Uptight doesn't understand the concept of a simple joke."

"A joke?", Hermione cried out incredulously. "A joke is supposed to be something said or done to evoke laughter or amusement. Do you see me laughing?"

"Quoting the dictionary, are we? I didn't think the concept of a joke was so foreign to you that you couldn't even use your own words to describe it!"

"Oh I'm awfully sorry, Mr. Why-Would-I-ever-need-to-look-in-a-dictionary, for being more erudite than you. But that is not really my fault, seeing as you neglect to open a book even every once in a while."

"And you have yet to understand that there are more important things than knowledge."

There was a short pause, before Hermione fired back: "And we're getting off-topic, I still refuse to accept your imbecile behaviour as a joke."

"Oh, is someone eager to change the subject? Have we left your comfort zone, haven't we? And just for the record, call it a 'prank' then, if it doesn't fit in your oh-so-correct concept of a joke!"

"You still haven't answered my question as to why you ever felt to pull such a childish 'prank' on me?"

"Because I thought it would be funny. Merlin, because there was no bloody way I could have convinced you to take a holiday otherwise."

"I don't need a bloody holiday?"

"Yes you do. For Christ's sake, you didn't even admit that you were seriously ill, until I practically dragged you into the hospital! I've never seen anyone in my life who is much about work as you are. Work here, work there. When will you ever go out and just have fun?"

"Weren't you the one who just admitted two days ago that his life was boring without some work to do?"

"Well, there is still a difference between working and having your whole life revolving around your work! Work is not supposed to be one's core of life, you know!"

"Who said that it was mine?"

"Everyone who looks at you. I mean, look at yourself, your life is just dull, you never do anything fun."

"How dare you judge my life? Just because you don't have a life doesn't mean you can meddle with mine. Maybe I am happy that way."

"Then you surely wouldn't have inserted a 'maybe' there, but would have just outright told me. Go out, meet some people. I mean, come on, you can't seriously tell me that you want to stay on your own for the rest of your life, becoming one of those lonely spinsters, who have no one but their cats to comfort them. How many relationships were you ever in? Was there even any beside the one with Ron? And just for the record, books don't count."

"What makes you think you know anything about me, about what I want? Who says I haven't tried. But every man I meet thinks of me first and foremost of one third of the Golden Trio, not as Hermione. They don't even try to get to know the real me." There were treacherous tears in Hermione's eyes, and she desperately tried to blink them away.

They had moved closer to one another during their shouting match and their faces were now merely inches apart. None of them had noticed this before, but in the awkward pause that ensued, both tried to inconspicuously move away from one another.

"Would you care for a cup of tea?", Sirius asked, his voice now back to a normal level.

"What?"

"I asked whether you would care for a cup of tea?"

"Sure", Hermione replied meekly, settling down on the nearest chair.

"Does peppermint tea sound alright?", Sirius asked putting on the kettle.

"Quite."

They were silent for a while, the only noise in the room the ongoing fizzling of the kettle.

"Sugar or milk?"

"Neither, thanks."

Sirius placed the cup in front of Hermione and sat down opposite of her. He took a small sip of his cup, careful not to burn his tongue, and watched the witch across from him. The ever-present smirk on his face was for once gone, and he actually looked slightly concerned.

Hermione, meanwhile, just stared off into space, playing with the cup in her hand. She had successfully managed to suppress any further tears, but one treacherous tear had slipped out of her face and down her cheek.

Sirius leaned over and wiped the tear away with his thumb, before gently but resolutely turning her head so that she faced him.

Sirius swallowed hard. He hated emotional scenes, he had never been any good at comforting people.

"Would it help if I apologized?", he asked.

"Maybe."

"Right, so I sincerely apologize for acting like a git at the hospital, even though I can't say that I truly regret what I have done. The ends justify the means, right?"

"You're incorrigible." There was a small smile on Hermione's lips, before she turned serious once again. "What about the other things you just said?"

"I am sorry, but I'm not able to take all of those things back, partly because I don't even remember everything I shouted at you and partly because I believe some of those things to be true. And if I have to apologize, so do you. The things you said about me didn't exactly categorize as 'nice' either."

Hermione just sipped her cup thoughtfully, not bothering to answer. A few minutes ago, she would have taken his statement as another prompt to start another argument, but she felt to emotionally drained right then. The worst thing was that some of the things that Sirius said had hit pretty close to home.

"imtdt", Hermione mumbled into her tea.

"I'm sorry, I didn't quite catch that."

"I'm not uptight, you know", Hermione looked back up at Sirius, a defiant expression on her face. "Just because I don't go out partying all the time doesn't mean I can't enjoy myself."

"So prove it to me", Sirius said, his familiar smirk back in place. "Go out with me tomorrow night, to a place of my choosing."

"And why would I feel the urge to prove anything to you?", Hermione asked sarcastically.

"Take it as a dare. I dare you to chat with at least one good-looking fellow there. If you do, I'll refrain from calling you 'uptight' and 'dull'."

Hermione mustered the man opposite of her with a thoughtful expression. "Alright", she said.

Sirius had a hard time to conceal his surprise. He hadn't thought that the younger witch would actually agree to it.

"I've got to get going", Hermione said.

"Right", Sirius answered. "I'll escort you to the door."

Hermione stepped out of the door, shortly turning back. "Thank you for the tea, Sirius."

"You're welcome", he said, before she disappeared with a soft pop, disapparating back to her own flat.

That night, both of them had a lot on their mind, both considering what the other one had thrown at them.

"He's just busy meddling in other people's life, 'uptight' and 'dull', tzz."

"Ridiculous, really. How could she ever suggest that I don't have a life of my own?"

But deep down, both of them were wondering if there wasn't a tiny bit of truth to what the other one had said.


End file.
